Baby, it’s cold outside!

The weather has finally started to feel like fall, here in SoCal (well in the early mornings at least)! To most this means long sleeves and sweatshirts or a jacket of some sort, right? Well, Kyle would beg to differ. 😏

Kyle has always struggled with sensory issues-but clothing was never a huge hurdle, like it is for some kids….until the past few years of course! 🙄 As he gets older he has become so rigid in all areas of his life and clothing is one of those! A T-shirt and elastic waste pants or shorts is what he prefers and luckily most of the year that is completely fine! But the mornings become chilly here and a sweatshirt of some sort is definitely required!

Kyle, the last few years has protested slightly when it came to putting a zip up hoodie on over his preferred tee, but not to the point that it was impossible-and usually by the time he was near the classroom he had unzipped it and off it went. But he wore it for a majority of the time being outside.

This year, has been the worst. Of course, why wouldn’t he add another hurdle his mom has to jump through?! 😂 He flat out refuses a jacket of any sort in the mornings. And trying to force it results in a major meltdown! 😩 But the part that makes me shake my head? He gets out side and shivers and says “coooooooooold!” He even gagged from the cold the other morning! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Dude, wear a jacket!

Soooooo, in talking to Erika, we decided maybe practicing wearing a jacket would help? Cuz, practicing everything with Kyle has seemed to become our go to! Here’s a video of us practicing the first time-it’s not pretty (and we tuck his shirt in like that when he repeatedly takes his shirt off-this way it takes more effort on his part and it usually makes him think twice) and you can see how amazing Erika really is!

We eventually got the jacket on him-I had to stop recording because it took two of us! And then I had to hold the zipper while he went outside to *practice* the steps! We barely accomplished this task but we did it! He was unzipping it before he even made it back in the house though! 🙄

The second video we took a little bit later and he did much better but still doesn’t love the idea of having a sweatshirt on!

And sometimes practicing doesn’t even make our perfect 🤨 (unfortunately) and I have to go to plan B or C or D or E or even F sometimes! We practiced a few more times, only to end it fights! And it was hard to practice when I didn’t have a second person to help! So I decided to try a compression cold proof long sleeve shirt. Hoping I’d trick him into being warm!

Guess what?! It totally worked! So I dress him every morning in a long sleeve compression shirt and a T-shirt over it! And he is totally fine with it! No fighting! No meltdowns!

Having Kyle has taught me so many things over the years. So many! One of them being-think outside the box and KEEP TRYING (even though it can be incredibly frustrating at times)! Eventually I will find what works. Eventually. It always comes back to patience. I apparently needed a life full of opportunities to learn patience! 😂

Recent Posts

About ME!

Hi! I'm Katie! I'm a mom to 5 kids who are all amazing in their own way! My husband and I met and fell in love, each already having 2 sons from previous marriages! Then after 3 years and tons of prayers decided to add another one, this time a girl! We have a crazy life, Kyle my 13 year old has a genetic disorder called Fragile X which caused his Autism! We try to smile through the tears and have learned that through lots of practice we can live {our} version of perfect!